The Creation of Canary Creams
by JBrocks917
Summary: Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Lee Jordan create the first prototype of Canary Creams. But when George tests the potion, he gets stuck as a canary. Fred and Lee must face many challenges—such as taking down the ferocious Madam Pince and stealing from the greasy bat Severus Snape—in order to restore their friend to his human form. [Extended edition of QLFC entry by the same name]


**A/N: Hi everyone! This is the extended version of "The Creation of Canary Creams", which contains extra sections and better phrasing than the original copy. Those sections were cut from the original were to meet word count limits for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition (even after all that cutting, I still ended up with** _ **exactly**_ **3000 words), but I've got to say that I like this one a lot better. If you're looking for the "official" version, with full disclaimers, credits, prompt usage, etc., go to chapter 16 of "Quidditch League Stories" in my profile. Now, enjoy the story!**

* * *

"Okay, I think we've done it," said Fred. He carefully watched the yellow mixture that was violently bubbling in the cauldron, in the hope that it wouldn't explode. "Yep. It seems safe to drink, at least."

Fred and George Weasley, with the help of Lee Jordan, were working to create Canary Creams, a type of treat that would turn the consumer temporarily into a canary, hence the name. It would be a product for Fred and George's joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, once they graduated Hogwarts.

Currently, the three of them were sitting on the floor of the sixth-year Gryffindor dormitory, surrounding a cauldron that simmered over a small blue flame. Lee was jotting down the ingredients and procedures Fred used, while Fred himself mixed the potion. As George was testing the item, he was excused from doing any of the work, although that fact didn't make the position enviable.

"It had better be," said George, his eyes, too, fixated on the frothing brew, "or I swear I'm going to—"

"What, kill me?" said Fred brightly, giving the potion a final stir. He prodded it with his wand, causing the mixture to spark. "You wouldn't dare. We all know you're much too fond of me for that. You might as well cut off your own ear."

"If I cut off my own ear, I might finally have some peace and quiet," George muttered. "Why do _I_ have to test it, anyway?"

"We already went over this, mate," said Lee, ladling out some of the potion and pouring it into a glass. "Last time, Fred tested the Puking Pastilles, and I tested the Fever Fudge before that. That makes it your turn."

George groaned. " _Fine_." He took the glass, which was beginning to melt slightly, out of Lee's hand. "Bottoms up."

And with that, he downed the potion in one go.

There was a moment of anticipation.

"Hey, shouldn't it have kicked i—?"

With a _pop_ , George was replaced by a startled-looking canary.

"Ha!" said Fred triumphantly, hi-fiving Lee. "It worked!"

"And if we did it right," said Lee, leaning eagerly toward the canary stumbling around on the floor in front of them, "George should be changing back right about—now."

Absolutely nothing happened.

"Er," said Lee awkwardly, " _now_."

Still, George remained as a canary, hopping about frantically on the floor.

"What happened?" said Fred, concern beginning to set in when his twin still didn't change back. "We didn't trap him as a canary forever, did we?"

Canary-George glared at him as best he could in his new form. _I knew this would happen_ , his beady bird eyes seemed to say.

Fred caught his expression. With a mock-hurt tone, he said, "You really have so little trust in me?"

George gave him a dry look, then pointed a wing at himself. Fred sobered as Lee picked up his log of the Canary Cream potion's creation.

"Hmm," said Lee, feverishly scanning his notes. His eyes widened once he came to a certain item on the list, then cross-referenced _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_. "I think the Bowtruckle leaf here was supposed to be a Mandrake leaf!"

Fred said a word that, if their mother had been there, would have earned him twenty sessions of de-gnoming the garden. "What are we going to do now? We need to make an antidote fast, not to mention we still have classes tomorrow…!"

Fred looked up as Canary-George began to flutter his wings. Fred and Lee watched in curiosity as, after a few tries, he finally got in the air.

"Whoa, cool!" said Fred, as George began to get the hang of being airborne. "You're actually flying!"

George gave him a dry look. _No, really?_ Then he flew over to one of their roommate's owl cages and sat himself inside, staring at the two of them pointedly.

"I think," Lee said finally, after a few moments of deliberation, "George says that he's going to pretend to be our pet for a while."

George nodded frantically, then perched himself on Fred's shoulder.

"Okay," said Fred slowly. "Our plan is that my twin brother is going to pretend to be my pet canary?"

"That sums it up nicely," said Lee.

Fred glanced at Canary-George. "You'd better behave, or I'm telling everyone about my really cute _girl_ canary named Sugarpie McFluffikins."

Then he yelped as George poked him with a claw.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, people stared at the canary sitting on Fred's shoulder.

"When did you get a pet bird?" asked Angelina Johnson. She looked around with a concerned expression. "And where's George?"

"George's sick," said Fred quickly, slightly surprised she was able to tell which twin was which. They had already decided a cover story, and had left a mound of pillows shaped into a passable imitation of George's form on his bed. "He wasn't feeling well, so I forced him to stay in bed…"

"Oh," she said sympathetically. "Tell him I hope he gets well soon."

"That was close," Lee told Fred, once Angelina had left to go sit with her friends. "Do you think the professors will buy it?"

"They'd better," said Fred, glancing at Canary-George, who was twittering quietly in his ear.

The first class they had that morning was Charms.

"George Weasley?" said tiny Professor Flitwick, standing atop his stack of tomes. He scanned the classroom. "No?"

"He's sick, Professor," Fred explained, putting on his best natural-looking casual expression. "I made him stay in bed so it wouldn't get worse."

Flitwick frowned, but he didn't question further. "Okay, then. Today, we'll be talking about Scouring Charms…"

As Flitwick began his lecture, Fred and Lee breathed a sigh of relief, George doing the same from Fred's book bag, which was open enough so that George had zero chance of running out of air.

As soon as the bell rang, signifying the end of class, Fred and Lee immediately jumped up and exited the classroom, heading the swarm of students spilling out of the room.

"Hey, George," Fred muttered discreetly into his bag, once he and Lee had ducked into a side corridor. "You okay in there?"

George twittered. It didn't sound distressed, so they took it as a yes.

Next was Transfiguration. Fred and Lee filed dutifully into the classroom, not making any sort of mischief once, so they were both slightly surprised when she made a beeline toward their desks.

"Where is Mr. Weasley?" said McGonagall sternly, coming up to them. She had probably noticed the empty desk beside Fred's.

"I'm right—"

McGonagall gave Fred a stern look. Fred shut up.

"Again," she said, "where is the _other_ Mr. Weasley?"

"He's sick, Professor," said Lee politely. "He wasn't feeling good, so we told him to stay in the dorms."

Clearly suspicious, McGonagall raised an eyebrow, but as Fred and Lee still had on perfectly innocent expressions, she decided that they were telling the truth and strode up to the front of the classroom. However, she became even more suspicious when Fred and Lee sat quietly and took notes as studiously as anyone.

What she didn't know was that they were duly copying down the transformation equation "t = ((w x c)/(v x a)) x z" for use in a potion to revert George back to a human from a canary. If she had known, they would probably be down serving detention with Filch for weeks.

The next class they had was Potions. Unsurprisingly, Snape had taken off twenty points from Gryffindor for a student skipping class. But he hadn't had an excuse to take any more, as Fred and Lee (who, along with George, were the only ones who dared make any kind of trouble in Snape's class) actually focused on their work, as Fred was determined to pick up any information they could about brewing George an antidote.

Before they went off to lunch, Fred and Lee made a stopover to the library, pulling off any books with useful sounding titles (for example, _Transformation Through the Ages_ ). When they placed the books in front of Madam Pince, she openly gave them a suspicious look.

"What are you planning with my precious tomes?" she said, glaring at them.

"For _research?_ " said Fred slowly. "What else would we do with them, place them on our heads and hope the information just sinks into our skulls?"

Madam Pince sniffed. "I wouldn't put it past you, the hooligans you are."

It took a lot of persuading, but finally, the librarian allowed them to check out the books, under the condition that whatever damage was done to the books would be done to them. Really, this was kind, according to the rumors of some N.E.W.T level students who had attempted to take out some obscure books for their exams.

There was only a bit of time left of lunch by the time Fred, George, and Lee arrived at the Great Hall. They took seats near the end of the table, Fred cutting his ham into tiny bits for George as he intently read _Ingredient Encyclopedia._

"Hey, where's...George...been?" asked Ron, coming up to them quite suddenly. Harry and Hermione stood behind him, Harry looking distinctly awkward.

"He's sick," said Fred shortly. He didn't elaborate further.

"Sick?" Ron questioned. "He seemed fine last night…"

"Well, you must have not been looking closely enough," Fred snapped.

"I'm just asking!" Ron said defensively. "No need to get so worked up about it!"

"Sorry," Fred muttered, then re-immersed himself into his book. Ron got the hint, and went back with Harry and Hermione to their seats.

"Calm down, mate," said Lee, once the trio were gone. "We have all day to research stuff for George. Don't worry about it."

Needless to say, Fred chose to ignore this advice, and replaced the _Ingredient Encyclopedia_ with _Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration_.

To Fred, the rest of the day seemed to drag on for forever. By the time the last class of the day had ended, he was practically bouncing off of the walls in his impatience to get working on George's antidote.

"Okay," said Fred, dumping his bag unceremoniously on the ground once they had arrived at their dormitory. Thankfully, George—glad for the chance to stretch his wings—had already flown out of it, and was now hovering above and just to the left of Lee's head. "Lee, can I see the recipe?"

"Er—" Lee began to search for the parchment, finally finding it shoved in a corner underneath one of their roommate's bed. "Here," he said, handing over the slightly crinkled list.

Fred scanned through it, mumbling to himself. "Death's-Head Hawkmoth wings…mandrake leaves…mooncalf fur…"

"So to counter the effects of the moths, we can use ladybug exoskeletons," said Lee thoughtfully, checking through _Potion Opuscule_. "For the mandrake leaves, we'll add in dugbog claws… And for the mooncalf fur, we can use Hodag fangs…"

And so it went for a good few hours, George occasionally fluttering near the textbooks and pecking at entries to get Fred and Lee's attention.

Eventually, however, night began to fall. The boys' roommates (who by now knew not to question the activities being done by the Weasley twins and Lee) arrived and went to bed, and both Fred's and Lee's eyes began to droop.

"Fred," said Lee finally, after catching himself nodding off into his textbook, "I think we really need to get to bed now."

"No!" Fred exclaimed, shaking himself awake. He pulled _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ toward himself with renewed vigor. "You go on to bed. I can't just leave George as a bird for who knows how long!"

"You'll be no help to him like this," said Lee gently. Fred was about ready to topple over with exhaustion, almost falling asleep and then shaking his head roughly. "We'll get straight back to it in the morning, I swear."

"But—"

George gave his twin an intense look, then settled himself on his pillow and gave him the closest thing he had to a smile. _Look, I'm fine!_

Fred sighed, really having no energy to argue. "Alright, _fine_."

Lee tucked their research into a folder and hid it inside Fred's nightstand. Then Fred and Lee climbed into their respective beds and fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

* * *

Thankfully, the next day was a Saturday, so Fred and Lee, with help from Canary-George, were able to spend most of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon doing research. (The rest of the student body—and the teachers—were beginning to become concerned for their wellbeing.)

"So, do you think Golpalott's Third Law will apply here?" said Lee casually, flipping through _Advanced Potion-Making_.

"Uh, what?" said Fred, looking up from _Goshawk's Guide to Herbology_. "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"Not really," Lee acquiesced. "Er, according to the textbook, it states that 'The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components'. I mean, we're not really making an antidote for a _poison_ , per se, but we're trying to counter the Canary Cream potion…"

Fred thought for a moment. "Nah. Besides, I don't even understand what you just said."

"Fair enough," said Lee, scribbling something down.

By the time lunch rolled around, Fred, George (to a lesser extent), and Lee were confident enough in their research to begin brewing.

But first, they needed ingredients.

"Anyone have any brilliant ideas?" Lee asked. "Because if so, now would be a good time to share."

"What we usually do is steal from Snape," Fred said nonchalantly. "He has a lot more of the rare ingredients that the students aren't allowed to use."

Lee blanched. "How often, exactly, do you steal from Snape?"

Fred shrugged. "Every few weeks. Not often enough for him to get suspicious, and we don't steal so much that he'd notice anything gone."

"I think I liked it better when I didn't know where you got all of this stuff," said Lee, after a moment's pause. "Now I'm a bit fearful for my life."

Nevertheless, Lee accompanied Fred and George to the first floor corridor, where Snape's potion storeroom was hidden. George was sent off to scout the area ahead.

After a few moments, George flew back to them and chirped twice, the signal they had decided to signify that the corridor ahead was empty. Glancing around warily, Fred and Lee ran through the hallway and ducked into a secret passage at the other end.

"If my memory serves me correctly," Fred whispered, "Snape's storeroom should be right over there."

George gave him a dry look. _I can't believe your memory is actually working right, for once._

"Shut up, Sugarpie McFluffikins," said Fred, rolling his eyes. Lee looked between them, bewildered; even after all these years, he still wasn't able to follow a good portion of Fred and George's conversations.

George shrugged, or he would have if he had been human. _In case you haven't noticed, I'm currently unable to speak English right now._

"Maybe I'll just leave you as a bird, then," said Fred, smirking evilly. "I'll give you to the first niece I have as a gift." He lowered his voice. "'Oh, hey, insert-niece's-name-here! Guess what? I have a gift for you! Check out this really cute pet canary I got you! Her name is Sugarpie McFluffykins! Have fun with her!'" He made his voice high and squeaky. "'Wow, thanks, Uncle Fred! You're my favorite—!'"

"Back to the topic," Lee interrupted, "are we going to steal Snape's ingredients or what?"

"Right," said Fred sheepishly, or as sheepishly as one of the Weasley Twins were capable of sounding. "Okay, remember, the plan is—"

"We've gone over it a million and one times, Fred!" Lee exclaimed. He pulled open the tapestry that was the entrance to the passage. "Let's just do it!"

"Righto!" said Fred, ducking out behind him. "Off we go, my merry band of—!"

 _Shut up!_ George gave him a pointed look. _We don't want to get caught now, do we?_

"Sorry," said Fred. He pointed at a green splotch on the wall ahead of them. "There!"

They stopped in front of a painting of a doe in a forest.

"So…" Fred grinned at Lee. "Got any ideas?"

"What?" exclaimed Lee. " _You're_ the ones who're supposed to know how to get in. How did you get all of your other ingredients, then?"

"The password changes all the time," Fred explained. "Last week it was 'emeralds,' for some odd reason. There doesn't really seem to be a pattern."

"There's no pattern?" Lee spluttered. "How am I supposed to guess, then? Why is it _always_ me?" he added under his breath.

And, to their surprise, the painting swung forward to let them in.

Fred beamed at Lee. "See, I knew you could do it!"

Lee groaned, dumped a bag with an Extension charm placed on it on the ground, and pulled from his pocket the list of ingredients for the antidote. "Okay, so we decided on ladybug shells…"

As Lee read the items off of the list, Fred and George collected one or two vials of all of the ingredients needed and deposited them into the bag. All of them were alert, waiting for any indication that Snape had returned.

Thankfully, the collection of ingredients went without incident, and the three of them strolled (and flew) casually back to the dormitories, looking for all the world like nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.

Once they arrived back at their dormitory, Fred pulled out the cauldron from under his bed and conjured a tiny blue flame.

Fred peered at the list. "So, uh, canary down feathers, cherry blossom petals…"

It took quite a few hours (and more than a few explosions), but they finally got the antidote looking actually safe for human (or, more accurately, aves) consumption.

"Ready, George?" said Fred, scooping the potion into an owl bowl.

Looking a bit humiliated at having to drink out of the bowl like a bird (well, he _was_ one), he gulped down the potion as quickly as possible.

There was a moment of anticipation.

"Hey, shouldn't it have kicked i—?"

With a _pop_ , the canary was replaced by a startled-looking George (thankfully with his clothes on).

"Ha!" Fred exclaimed triumphantly.

Lee cheered. "It worked! We're absolute _geniuses!_ "

George just looked relieved to be a human again.

"Next time we make anything that has to do with transforming people into things, _you're_ testing it," George grumbled. But then, seemingly unable to keep up his irritation, he laughed. "That was brilliant! It worked almost perfectly!"

"Those'll make us rich!" Fred said, grinning widely.

"But first, we need another test subject," said George. "I've got a few ideas for some modifications we can make."

Lee nodded. "Yeah, alright. But who would _willingly_ volunteer to try anything we make?"

"Doesn't have to be willing, does it," said Fred, smirking. "We'll just pull the modified Canary Creams during the next party and see what happens to the person who eats it."

"Well, yeah," said George, "but who do we know who's naive enough to actually eat something _we_ set out?"

The three friends looked at each other and grinned.

"Neville."

* * *

 **Notes about Canary Creams:**

 **\- So I'm aware that Canary Creams are supposed to turn people into "large canaries", and when they turn back they're supposed to "molt their feathers", but keep in mind that these are still the prototypes, and that these features can be added in later, once they've refined the potion.**

 **Notes about Canary Cream potion ingredients and their counters:**

 **\- Death's-Head Hawkmoth wings: The moth's chrysalis is used in the Animagus transformation potion**

 **\- Ladybug exoskeleton:** **They symbolize fortune and prosperity, what they hope to earn by selling these and other products (also reference to "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir", to be honest)**

 **\- Mandrake leaves: These are also used in the Animagus transformation potion**

 **\- Dugbog claws: Dugbogs' main prey are mandrakes**

 **\- Mooncalf fur: The moon is an important aspect of the Animagus transformation; the moon (in all phases) is also a symbol of change**

 **\- Hodag fangs: Hodags mainly prey on mooncalves**

 **\- Sakura (cherry blossoms): A symbol of change**

 **\- Canary down feathers: I think you should be able to work this out for yourself**


End file.
